Just a Country Girl

I grew up in Texas, around cattle and horses. I'm 13 years old and I have blue eyes and black hair, with a few blond stripes. I wake up every morning to the sound of horses neighing. I feel like my life is perfect. Like there is nothing else that could make it better.

I get up at 6:00 to feed the horses. I put on some clean clothes and brush my teeth and hair. Then I put my boots on, which are rubber and light gray. My mother always makes me feed the animals before I get any breakfast, which is fine with me, since I love spending time with them. We have two dogs. Cookie and Zoey. Cookie is a golden retriever and Zoey is a Great Dane. They sleep with me and keep me warm. I walk out of the house and Zoey follows me, while Cookie lays on the front porch. I don't feed the cattle, but I feed the horses. The cattle's feed is hard to get, so Kyle gets it. Kyle works at the ranch for my mom. Sometimes he'll make some jumps that I can jump over when I'm ridding. Finally, I arrive at the horses barn. They are out in the pasture right now and I will let them in once all of their stalls have food, hay, and fresh water. It takes me about 40 minutes to give all the horses food and water. Then I go out to their pasture and make sure all of them are there. We have five horses. I count them as they walk into their stalls. Thunder, Pepper, Sky, Tucker, and Hope. Thunder is a male palomino, Pepper is a female clysdale, Sky is a male Appaloosa, Tucker is a male Arabian, and Hope is a female paint. My mom loves a variety of horses. I want a Friesian horse, but my mom said I could have one of the horses we already have. I only want a Friesian and so I just ride whichever horse is available. All of the horses do trail rides and lessons. My mom has recently let me start teaching lessons. I get to choose which horse they ride, which I love doing. We have about three people come and ride everyday, but on Sundays we are always closed. All the horses are in their stalls now, so I get to go back inside the house and get breakfast. When I walk inside, I see chocolate pancakes on the table. This is odd, because I usually only get chocolate pancakes when it's my birthday. Kyle is there as well. There must be some bad news. When I walk in, I don't sit. I just stand there and don't eat. My mom says to sit, but I still don't. She sighs and starts telling the bad news. "Payton, I know this is going to be hard for you, but were moving." I don't let her say another word. Instead, I ask a bunch of questions. She stops me in the middle of my third question. "Payton, let me finish. We are moving to California because it's getting to hot in Texas, for the cattle and horses. It's not good for them. Kyle will also be moving with us and living with us. And you won't be home-schooled anymore, because they have buses that will take you to school for free. You may now ask questions, but only one at a time, and wait for me to respond to the first question, before you move on to the next." I didn't know where to start. She basically answered all of my question, except for a few. "Are all the horses and cattle going with us?" She responds quicker than I thought."Yes. All the horses and cattle are going with us. I saved up a lot of money over the past years, so we could move. I knew it would get too hot sooner or later." "When are we moving?" She doesn't respond that quickly this time, which scares me. "We are moving in five days. You will still have your birthday, but you will have to start to pack immediately. Everyone gets two suitcases. You pack what you can and the rest will be sold. Kyle and I have already picked out a house and I think you'll like it. It's got a HUGE backyard, where the horses and cattle will stay. Any other questions?" "No, I'll start packing." I want some time to think about this. I walk up to my room, which is one the third floor. My walls are painted with horses and I have two windows. I don't have much, because I spend my time with the horses. I have a phone, but I only use it to call Kyle or my mom. It's an iPhone 5S. I got it as an early birthday present. I also have a laptop, which I got 2 years ago. I only use it to look up things. I think a lout what to pack and make a list. It's only one word. Everything. After about 5 minutes, my mom comes up and gives me two suitcases. One is very large and one is a medium size. I'll use the large one for my clothes and the medium one for my laptop and journals, and toiletries. My birthday is tomorrow, and I don't want to celebrate it. I only want to ride the horses bareback on the longest trail ride I can make. I've already told my mom and she seemed fine with it. I have one stuffed animal. It's a horse. My dad gave it to me right before he passed away. I was 2 when he died. He was going on a walk with me and was attacked by a swarm of scorpions. He told me to run and get help, after he was bitten multiple times. I was bitten only once, but it hurt. There were no hospitals nearby, but my mom healed my bite. But before she did, she sent Kyle out to get my dad. Kyle came back with a body lying on his back, with multiple bites and one scorpion on his leg. I stepped on it and smushed it. I don't talk about my dad very much. It's 9:00. I go to bed.